Tired of overseas transaction charges when you shop in another country? A new HSBC offering joins the growing number of cards and accounts appealing to Australians who like to travel.

Its Everyday Global Account allows you to bank in 10 currencies with no overseas charges and fee-free ATM withdrawals (although some ATMs will charge their own usage fees).

"This is a great addition to Australia's banking landscape and a move that will hopefully encourage greater competition in this space," says Peter Arnold, chief strategy officer at research house RateCity. "HSBC joins a few other notable players including Citibank, Macquarie and ING - the current market leader in our opinion."

The currencies on the HSBC account – which can be used to shop (including online), save, pay bills and transfer money – include the Singapore dollar, British pound, US dollar, Canadian dollar, yen, yuan, Hong Kong dollar, New Zealand dollar and euro. "It's the first of a kind because it's competitive with many of the latest low-fee transaction accounts but you can also store different currencies in your account, making it similar to a travel card," adds Arnold.

It enables you to buy a currency at a favourable rate or lock it in before you travel. And unlike a travel card, says Arnold, there are no penalties when you run out of a certain currency.

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Instead the HSBC account converts at the rate of the day automatically. By contrast, Arnold cites CBA's travel card which charges a 5.25 per cent fee when you spend in a currency that is not loaded on the card.

ATM refunds

That said, he still rates ING's Orange Everyday account as the best on offer. "While HSBC has no overseas charges or ATM fees on at their end, the foreign ATM provider still charges a fee, which can climb over $8.

"ING blitzes them on this point by offering an ATM refund from all third-party ATM providers – regardless of the fee. HSBC offers free withdrawals at their ATM terminals but travellers aren't exactly going to go kilometres out of their way just to avoid an ATM fee."

But as you can see from the table, the ING account requires you make a deposit of $1000 and five transactions each month to get the free use of ATMs. The HSBC account has no eligibility requirements.

ATM withdrawal fees on standard bank accounts are an average $4.46, according to RateCity. On top of that you're also charged an ATM currency conversion fee (on average 2.71 per cent) and an ATM provider fee.

"Currency conversion can be quite steep and apply when travelling and shopping online," says Bessie Hassan of research house finder.com.au.

"Most cards will charge a fee of around 2-3 per cent of each transaction made in another currency so they're worth avoiding where possible."

While the Citibank Plus card (also outlined in the table) charges no conversion fees if it's used for purchases, Arnold points out that cash withdrawals will incur ATM fees unless you use a Citi (or an affiliate's) ATM.